IVCC receives nomination for Bellwether Award

This crispy creation by Team Awsome of Hall High School was the fastest vehicle in IVCC’s Edible Car Contest held in celebration of Engineering Week in 2012. Students in teacher Jill Bruner’s calculus class at Hall compete regularly in the IVCC contest.

By edu_Hall_edible car winner

OGLESBY — Illinois Valley Community College has received a third nomination for the prestigious Bellwether, a national award which recognizes outstanding and innovative community college programs.

IVCC’s nomination for the 2013 award is for edible car contests which a team of IVCC faculty have been offering throughout the college district to engage students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and also promoting nationwide.

In addition to this year being the second time the IVCC edible car project has been nominated, IVCC’s Making Industry Meaningful In College (MIMIC) project was one of 10 finalists for the award, presented at the Community College Futures Assembly at the University of Florida, last year. The Bellwether Award recognizes cutting-edge, innovative programs that are leading community colleges into the future.

“Edible car contests, like MIMIC, are proof that simple projects can engage students,” said Dorene Perez, the program coordinator of computer aided design and computer aided engineering and one of the IVCC contest organizers.

IVCC offered its first edible car contest in 2006 as a celebration of Engineering Week.

“We knew that designing vehicles from food would challenge students to solve problems and be creative, skills that are critical in engineering,” Perez said. “As we offered that first contest, we began to see how much potential the contests have to get students excited about an unlimited number of other subjects.”

Since that first contest, Perez and a team consisting of Jim Gibson, Rose Marie Lynch, and Sue Caley Opsal, have offered edible car contests to second-graders through college-age students. Gibson is the program coordinator of electronics; Lynch is a communications instructor; and Caley Opsal is a biology instructor.

Edible car contests are especially suited for creating interest in and providing hands-on applications for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). While the vehicles created from food are low tech, the IVCC team showcases high tech equipment in the speed competition. A programmable logic controller is connected to a human machine interface (HMI), with reflective photo eyes located at the start and finish of the track.

With support from a National Science Foundation grant, the IVCC team has written a “how to” handbook and has given workshops at a number of national conferences to encourage and assist teachers to organize contests as a fun way to provide hands-on experience for classroom content.

“People of all ages like playing with food,” Perez said. “So we are encouraging others to capitalize on that interest.”

Bellwether Award finalists will be recognized at the Community College Futures Assembly in Orlando Jan. 26–29.